Category: Pets

The kittens are coming up on their 1st birthday in a couple months. This black one is an eating machine who was the runt of the litter, now outgrown his big sister.

He was barely half the size of his litter-mates to start with.

Boots tried suicide by dog two weeks after we got him. Then at some point recently, decided it might be a good idea to start eating the basement flooring. It’s really odd, because they all get fed enough sometimes they turn down the treats. I cleaned up his puke with little bits of the chewed up foam in it several times before he finally ingested a piece big enough to get stuck around last Friday. So Monday the vet had to open him up to remove that, and I’m a little busy taping up the gym floor so he won’t do it again. Hopefully.

At least it looks like the government’s footing the bill this time around with another stimulus payment, like they bought my truck tires last year!

The aquariums all got filter upgrades this season after another round of failed Chinese junk and the realization that I simply can no longer handle the unit in the big tank. It’s a Marineland C530 that weighs probably aroud 60lbs full. Getting it in and out of the cabinet was never easy, and became excruciatingly difficult after the back surgery last year. The C530 has been discontinued by the manufacturer and I have two – one with low miles and both still working fine. So that model now gets run on the goldfish tank from which I can roll it around on a floor dolly in the basement. The goldfish needed more filtration anyway, because one of the two mid-sized Marinelands I had on them just quit for no apparent reason, after being in service for only a couple years.

The crazy Firemouths got a new, smaller/lighter Fluval FX-4, which is actually rated for a little more water and clearly a much higher quality unit, weighing only about half the C530’s mass. The filter upgrade process began when I tried to start up an old Hydor cannister on the small tank with the new baby goldfish. I thought I had two working units and enough parts to make three, but nothing would pump a drop. They are made in France, go figure. So the babies got a little Fluval. The goldfish pics were from last Fall, right after they came inside.

Caught the cats on video a couple times recently. The Tigger-by-the-pond vid on the bottom was awhile ago last summer. I’ve been neglecting the content creation lately:

I have to settle for the furry kind, now that my real girls don’t live here anymore.

These two are the shy, skittish type – especially Anna Mae. I’m amazed she ever decided to hang out with Tigger like that.

Just a quick update on the “inside” piscine pets.  The guys in the big tank (190 gallons) upstairs got a good cleaning and water change the other day.  The population has been very steady for the past few years.  I recently had to euthanize two of the biggest Firemouths after they grew too large  and started tearing up the tank, fighting all the time.  There was a period of a couple months last spring where they were spawning every other week and just going crazy for some reason.

I’m gonna stop in at my favorite Boulder Aquatics specialty shop today and pickup a couple new Garra Ruffas. The 15-year-old one we had finally gave up the ghost last month.  They’ll join the Loaches and Cats on the cleanup crew.  Those Ruffas are great for eating algae off the inside glass.  Took me at least a half hour to get that done the other day.

Late Update, 11/10:  Those little Rosie Reds are almost all gone now.

I’m no cat behavior expert, but aren’t these 2 just adorable?!  We’re inside a week to their spay/neuter appointment on the 29th.  Judging by the behavior, I suspect it won’t be a day too soon…

After getting off to a rocky start, I think Jax, Anna and Marshall will eventually accept the newbies.  Jax still growls at them, but hasn’t tried to bite anybody’s head off again yet.  I definitely needed something to boost my spirits while struggling to rehab that back injury.  We have the empty nest thing here now as well.  Pandemic and all things considered, I have never been more depressed, as I proceeded through my 4th orthopedic surgery last February.  Kittens to the rescue!

Slash?  The black one turned out to be a boy, and dumb as they come.  He was gonna need a new name anyway, so “Boots” it is.  But after he attempted suicide by dog a week ago, “Dumbass” might have been more appropriate.  I didn’t see what happened, but heard it and looked up just in time to see Boots stagger away from the dog.  He’s quite the feisty little rascal, so I imagine he tried his flying 4-paw ninja attack on Jax while he was eating his biscuit.  I was afraid the kitten wasn’t gonna make it.  He lost alot of blood and wasn’t moving much when we got him to the pet ER.  Now he’s an $800 “free” cat, and the strong concussion followed by stitches clear across his head did not appear to slow him down at all.

Started struggling to catch up with the Photo/Video collection last week:

Apparently now there is some doubt about Kiki’s status as a girl kitty.  Vet scratched out “F” and wrote in “M” on the paperwork.

Shouldn’t take long for the “new” part to wear off.  Francie found her at a friend’s farm down by the river east of here.  She’s the runt of the litter, and that makes her really special to us.  Old Kiki was a very small cat, probably a runt as well.  But what she lacked in physical stature was more than offset by an intense fighting spirit.  Kiki was always the one out on the back fence fending off intruders, while the big, lazy tomcat, Marshall stayed inside.

Her sister, Tigger, is obviously much bigger.  I took Kiki to the vet the day after we got her, for a quick checkup, just because she was so small and unsteady at 7 weeks.  He said we should wait a couple weeks for 1st shots due to her small size, but otherwise she seems OK.  

One day a couple weeks ago she just disappeared.  I’m guessing she got careless and was taken by a coyote or owl, maybe the new neighbor’s dogs.  She is going to be hard to replace.  This cat was the most prolific hunter we ever had.  I’ve been having “critter in the house” drills at least a couple times a week from spring through fall, chasing birds in the basement or mice that didn’t get killed before she brought them in.  At the same time she was the most affectionate cuddler.  Bye-bye Kiki.

The big tank looks pretty cool when the sun hits it early in the winter mornings.

Looks like the big female had enough eggs for two mates spawning simultaneously this time around: